OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — Inside a hospital room at Methodist Memorial Hospital in Oak Ridge, Andrea Lenhard agonized: Her father Joe had a living will against it, but a ventilator was the only way to keep him alive.
"It felt horrible. Even though I was obeying his wishes," she said. "Even though as a medical person I knew it was the right thing to do, I felt like I was killing my dad. It was terrible. He trusted me and I felt like I was letting him down."
She said the 91-year-old was active and strong. Before moving into an assisted living home, he walked five miles a day--often inside stores like Walmart.
Andrea Lenhard thought he'd live for another decade. Instead, he died from COVID-19 16 days ago, less than 24 hours after she found out he was sick.
"I was very frustrated because I had taken so many precautions and the assisted living place had taken so many precautions to try to protect him and the other residents," she said.
Joe Lenhard moved into The Groves at Oak Ridge assisted living less than two weeks before it went on lockdown. The facility now reports 21 residents are positive for the coronavirus. Two, including Joe Lenhard, have died.
But his daughter does not want to focus on his death, but instead his remarkable life.
"Dad would hate being a statistic," she said.
Lenhard was an executive in charge of research and development at the Oak Ridge National Lab, according to his obituary. He served as chairman of the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce and was a fixture at Rotary Club meetings.
"Everyone else saw the incredibly intelligent physicist, the high ranking executive," Lenhard said. "I saw the dad that everybody wanted because he was so much fun."
She said she'll remember nature hikes and learning to water ski at their Norris Lake cabin. She keeps a pair of his boots tucked away there as a memento.
"Anytime I want to feel close to Dad it will be easy for me to go there and feel him because it just channeled all the adventuresome-ness," she said.